القاعدة ذات الصلة
Sierra Leone
Practice Relating to Rule 151. Individual Responsibility
Section A. Individual criminal responsibility
Sierra Leone’s Instructor Manual (2007) states:
Individual Responsibility
- Every member of the [Republic of Sierra Leone Armed Forces] has a personal responsibility to comply with the law of armed conflict.
- Ensure that it is complied with by others and to take action when violations are encountered.
- Any member[s] of the [Republic of Sierra Leone Armed Forces] who commit, order, assist, fail to prevent or fail to report serious violation[s] of the law of armed conflict commit war crimes for which they can be tried and, if found guilty, punish[ed].
Sierra Leone, The Law of Armed Conflict. Instructor Manual for the Republic of Sierra Leone Armed Forces (RSLAF), Armed Forces Education Centre, September 2007, p. 65.
[emphasis in original]Sierra Leone’s Geneva Conventions Act (2012) states:
Part 1 – Preliminary
1. Interpretation.
In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires –
“Conventions” means
(i) the Geneva Convention for the Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded and Sick in Armed Forces in the field, done at Geneva on 12th August 1949;
(ii) the Geneva Convention related to the Amelioration of Wounded, Sick and Shipwrecked Members of the Armed Forces at Sea, done at Geneva on 12th August 1949;
(iii) the Geneva Convention related to the Treatment of Prisoners of War, done at Geneva on 12th August 1949;
(iv) the Geneva Convention related to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of war, done at Geneva on12th August 1949;
…
“Protocols” means –
(i) the Protocol, additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12th August 1949, relating to the Protection of Victims of International Armed Conflicts (Protocol I) done on 10th June 1977;
(ii) the Protocol, additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12th August 1949, relating to the Protection of Victims of Non-International Armed Conflicts (Protocol II) done on 10th June 1977.
2. Grave breaches of the Conventions and the First Protocol.
(1) A person of whatever nationality commits an offence if that person, whether within or outside Sierra Leone[,] commits, aids, abets or procures any other person to commit a grave breach specified in –
(a) article 50 of the First Geneva Convention;
(b) article 51 of the Second Geneva Convention;
(c) article 130 of the Third Geneva Convention;
(d) article 147 of the Fourth Geneva Convention;
(e) paragraph 4 of article 11 or paragraph 2, 3, or 4 of Article 85 of the First Protocol.
(2) A person who commits an offence under subsection (1) is liable on conviction –
(a) in the case of a grave breach which involves the willful killing of a person protected by the relevant Convention or Protocol to imprisonment for life;
(b) in the case of any other grave breach, to imprisonment for a term not less than 10 years and not exceeding twenty five years.
(3) A person who in Sierra Leone commits, abets, aids or procures any other person to commit a breach of the Conventions or Protocols not covered under subsection (1) commits an offence and is liable on conviction to imprisonment for a term not less than 10 years and not exceeding twenty five years.
(4) A citizen of Sierra Leone who outside Sierra Leone commits or aids, abets or procures the commission by another person of a breach of any of the Conventions or Protocols not covered under subsection (1) commits an offence and is liable on conviction to imprisonment for a term not less than 10 years and not exceeding 25 years.
(5) Where a person commits an offence under this section outside Sierra Leone, that person may be tried and punished as if the offence was committed in Sierra Leone.
Sierra Leone, Geneva Conventions Act, 2012, Sections 1–2.
